Birmingham City chairperson Vusi Khumalo doesn’t feel hard done by with their 4-3 loss to fellow newcomers in the ABC Motsepe League – Bush Bucks Academy – at North End Stadium over the weekend.
City was still recovering from their 3-1 loss to Future Tigers in their opening game last week, and they were hoping to bounce back in the third-tier league, but it wasn’t meant to be.
But regardless of the result, Khumalo said his players did all they could to win the game, but Bucks were the better side at the end of the day.
Bucks, who are mentored by former Santos coach, Nigel Dixon, now have three points, while City has still not registered any points.
“This was a difficult game, looking at the fact that both teams lost their opening games in the league last Wednesday.
“It was a high tempo game as both teams were looking for maximum points to move away from the relegation zone, but overall I’m happy, even though we lost,” said Khumalo.
He said the most important thing right now for his lads in their maiden season was scoring goals.
“The boys showed me that they can score goals, as they have scored in both games we’ve played so far, and that tells me we only need to work on certain departments that we keep making mistakes on.
“Because for us to score in a pound for pound game that produced seven goals is something good for us, since it’s our first season and all.
“And coming to this game that we played against Bucks as compared to the game we played in Uitenhage [against Tigers], the boys really did well.”
Khumalo said conceding soft goals was their primary challenge they would focus on as they looked to improve their position on the log-standings.
“We were leading even though we didn’t possess the ball that much, and that’s improvement as compared to the first game we played last week.
“Because you could see that when they played last week it was their first game in the big league.
“And I think it was a bit of stage fright, but we spoke to them about that and they did a bit better against Bucks,” he said.
Khumalo said they were preparing for a Goliath versus Goliath encounter as their next fixture was against Amavarara, from Queenstown.
City got promotion alongside Amavarara at the SAB league playoffs that were recently held at the Army Base in Grahamstown, and the two clubs have a history together as they have been looking for promotion for more than two seasons in the SAB league.
“I think one of the toughest encounters we’ll ever face in this league is this week’s game against Amavarara.
“Because we’ve been close with them trying to get into the third-tier league.
“As the two club owners, we’ve been advising each other on a number of issues, and even when we went for the playoffs we told each other that this was our time to move up.
“And the fact that we always play each other during preseason means that we know each other very well on the field of play. Hence I’m saying this is going to be a difficult game,” said Khumalo.
Other results:
Matta Milan 0 Tornado 1, Sibanye 0 Mthatha Bucks 0, Yakha United 2 PE Stars 1, Butterworth 1 The Guys 0, Amavarara 3 Future Tigers 0, Highbury 0 Peace Makers 0, Swartkops Valley United Brothers 1 Bizana Pondo Chiefs 5
City boss sees few positives from close defeat
Image: Ashley Vlotman/ Gallo Images
Birmingham City chairperson Vusi Khumalo doesn’t feel hard done by with their 4-3 loss to fellow newcomers in the ABC Motsepe League – Bush Bucks Academy – at North End Stadium over the weekend.
City was still recovering from their 3-1 loss to Future Tigers in their opening game last week, and they were hoping to bounce back in the third-tier league, but it wasn’t meant to be.
But regardless of the result, Khumalo said his players did all they could to win the game, but Bucks were the better side at the end of the day.
Bucks, who are mentored by former Santos coach, Nigel Dixon, now have three points, while City has still not registered any points.
“This was a difficult game, looking at the fact that both teams lost their opening games in the league last Wednesday.
“It was a high tempo game as both teams were looking for maximum points to move away from the relegation zone, but overall I’m happy, even though we lost,” said Khumalo.
He said the most important thing right now for his lads in their maiden season was scoring goals.
“The boys showed me that they can score goals, as they have scored in both games we’ve played so far, and that tells me we only need to work on certain departments that we keep making mistakes on.
“Because for us to score in a pound for pound game that produced seven goals is something good for us, since it’s our first season and all.
“And coming to this game that we played against Bucks as compared to the game we played in Uitenhage [against Tigers], the boys really did well.”
Khumalo said conceding soft goals was their primary challenge they would focus on as they looked to improve their position on the log-standings.
“We were leading even though we didn’t possess the ball that much, and that’s improvement as compared to the first game we played last week.
“Because you could see that when they played last week it was their first game in the big league.
“And I think it was a bit of stage fright, but we spoke to them about that and they did a bit better against Bucks,” he said.
Khumalo said they were preparing for a Goliath versus Goliath encounter as their next fixture was against Amavarara, from Queenstown.
City got promotion alongside Amavarara at the SAB league playoffs that were recently held at the Army Base in Grahamstown, and the two clubs have a history together as they have been looking for promotion for more than two seasons in the SAB league.
“I think one of the toughest encounters we’ll ever face in this league is this week’s game against Amavarara.
“Because we’ve been close with them trying to get into the third-tier league.
“As the two club owners, we’ve been advising each other on a number of issues, and even when we went for the playoffs we told each other that this was our time to move up.
“And the fact that we always play each other during preseason means that we know each other very well on the field of play. Hence I’m saying this is going to be a difficult game,” said Khumalo.
Other results:
Matta Milan 0 Tornado 1, Sibanye 0 Mthatha Bucks 0, Yakha United 2 PE Stars 1, Butterworth 1 The Guys 0, Amavarara 3 Future Tigers 0, Highbury 0 Peace Makers 0, Swartkops Valley United Brothers 1 Bizana Pondo Chiefs 5
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